Millionaires Tax to fund Washington’s future, help solve homelessness | Opinion

Walk down the street of any city in Washington — from Battle Ground to Bellingham, Pullman to Port Angeles — and you don’t have to look hard to see the reality of homelessness.

People become homeless in different ways, but they remain homeless for one primary reason: There are not enough affordable homes. Washington has allowed housing costs to soar while underinvesting in the solutions that work. That shortage is not inevitable, it is the direct outcome of an upside-down tax code that leaves our state without the resources to build and preserve affordable housing at the scale this crisis demands and to provide the support and services people need to thrive in those homes.

We have a once-in-a-generation chance to make significant investments in our communities and address the structural problems of our state budget. This session, lawmakers passed a Millionaires Tax. This 9.9% tax on people earning incomes above $1 million — less than 1% of our state’s residents — will make our tax system more fair and provide the state with more of the resources we need to address homelessness and other systemic problems.

Our organizations recently brought this conversation to Olympia where more than 800 people came together to ask state lawmakers to take action. At a rally on the Capitol steps, we heard from Joan, who was wrongfully evicted by her landlord, but protected by a legal aid program. Melissa, whose family carries a devastating history of abuse and discrimination through their native heritage, was there, too. So was Greg, who lost his job, then his house, and finally his family support.

We’ve been living under a tax code that has not changed much since the 1930s, when our economy was based on agriculture, timber harvest and mining. Today, that model no longer serves our service-based economy.

Our upside-down tax code has meant that people with the least — like Joan, Melissa, and Greg — are asked to pay a much higher portion of their income in state and local taxes than those with the most. Meanwhile, the wealthiest people who can most afford to pay have been off the hook. It’s working families and our state’s poorest residents that foot most of the bill for the services that we all depend on.

Our tax code is also why our state regularly faces budget shortfalls. Because we don’t ask the wealthy to pay what they truly owe, we’re always coming up short and don’t have enough to meet increasing needs, like higher caseloads for social services, greater demand for early learning programs and affordable child care, special education for kids in public schools, and other important supports, including affordable housing and homelessness services.

On top of this, Congress made devastating cuts that will impact food stamps, Medicaid and more. They slashed services to give another tax break to the wealthiest people in Washington state and across the country. This means more people in Washington will have even less money to pay for their housing.

The Millionaires Tax can fund the services that the other Washington cut and bolster programs provided by our state. We can keep people like Joan in their homes and make sure more neighbors like Melissa and Greg have stable housing.

We can make sure every neighborhood — no matter the zip code — has a world class school for local kids. We can give high school graduates more access to higher education and training programs. We can make sure families, seniors, and anyone who needs to can see a doctor or a dentist. And we can make sure everyone in Washington has access to a safe, affordable home. Together, we can fund the future we dream for our families and communities by asking the wealthy to contribute more of what they owe.

Thank you to the lawmakers who voted to fund our future by passing the Millionaires Tax!

Emma Scalzo is the executive director of Balance Our Tax Code, a coalition of more than 100 non-profits, labor unions, housing and human service providers, advocates, and activists in WA state. Rachael Myers is the executive director of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, a statewide membership organization working for a safe, affordable homes for everyone in Washington.

This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Millionaires Tax to fund Washington’s future, help solve homelessness | Opinion."